Beyoncé Publishes New Essay on Gender Equality

Calls gender equality a myth.

Beyoncé has published an essay arguing that gender equality does not yet exist.

The singer wrote an article for The Shriver Report, in response to its findings that 42 million American women are living in poverty or are close it.

In the post, Beyoncé stated that men and women need to join forces to achieve true gender equality.

"We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality," she wrote. "It isn't a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the US workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77% of what the average working man makes.

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"But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change. Men have to demand that their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters earn more - commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender.

"Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect."

She added: "We have a lot of work to do. But we can get there if we work together. Women are more than 50% of the population and more than 50% of voters. We must demand that we all receive 100% of the opportunities."

The full essay was published in The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink on January 12.